Wednesday, March 30, 2016

Got My New Copy of Block Magazine Today!

Last September I taught at Linda Z's in Chicago -- so much fun and such great people to work with! But this trip had a very expensive side effect. I stayed with my friend Carol and she had a whole stack of Block magazines from Missouri Star Quilt Company. I started reading, couldn't stop, set up an account and subscribed to the magazine as well as ordering all the back copies. And then the daily deals started coming in my inbox and some of them were irresistible -- do you see a looming train wreck here?


This is the magazine that just arrived. As soon as I get it, I have to sit right down and look at all the pretty pictures and decide which is the quilt that I just may have to make. There were probably three or four that caught my eye, but I definitely had a favorite!


In the book, this is called Studio Star. The traditional block used in this quilt is my very favorite in the whole world! All of the traditional blocks seem to have more than one name, but I know this block as Sister's Choice and it's the block I used in one of my quilts.


Make Mine Neapolitan is my spring/summer nap quilt; I quilted it with a silk blend batting so that it's very light, yet still really shows off all of the feathers that I quilted. My inspiration for making it was that Alex Anderson asked me to make a quilt to be photographed for her book from C&T Publishing called "Neutral Essentials". I sort of had a mental problem with making a quilt entirely in beiges, creams, tans, etc., so I sprinkled pieces of pink fabrics throughout the quilt -- that's what made the name Make Mine Neapolitan work just perfectly!

If you have also become a Missouri Star addict and have a copy of the magazine, you'll find the pattern right there. If not, you could always subscribe and get it or, if you love this quilt as much as I do but don't have access to the mag, you could buy the pattern for Make Mine Neapolitan through my website. Or you could look up the Sister's Choice block, grab a jelly roll and some background fabric, and start sewing!

I love that the Missouri Star version calls for a jelly roll; Make Mine Neapolitan has about 100 fabrics in it and calls for 4-5/8 yards assorted neutral prints for blocks, all of which were cut into 2-1/2" squares. The pattern back does say that you could use "rolls of 2-1/2" strips available at some quilt stores" -- this makes me laugh now that we can get them absolutely everywhere! I wrote this pattern in 2007; shopping for quilt fabric has certainly changed since then!

I love pre-cuts and have some all ready to go with background fabric, patterns, border fabric -- in other words, an assembled quilt kit. I'll be home for about a week and a half and am hoping to get some sewing time in.

Do you like pre-cuts? What's your favorite -- jelly rolls, honey buns, layer cakes, charm packs? Would you be willing to share some pictures of some quilts you've made from pre-cuts? There may be a prize involved.....


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